


A Natural Heritage

by benjaminrussell



Category: Class (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mythology, Folklore, M/M, Polish Mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 00:15:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/benjaminrussell/pseuds/benjaminrussell
Summary: The boys enjoy a lazy morning in bed and Charlie discovers something new about Matteusz.





	A Natural Heritage

As it was a Saturday, the morning light streaming through the window woke Charlie, bringing him slowly round to consciousness for a change instead of the usual blaring of his alarm. He stretched languidly and rolled over to see if Matteusz was awake, only to find his boyfriend covered in a light dusting of leaves and flowers. For a brief, heart stopping moment he thought that the carnivorous petals had returned, but he quickly realised that the flora weren’t the same pink blossoms that had terrorised the planet not that long ago.

“Uh, Matteusz…” Charlie said warily, reaching out to brush some of them off Matteusz’s shoulder and also to shake him awake.

“Good morning,” Matteusz replied sleepily, opening his eyes and smiling softly up at him, not seeming to notice the unusual bedspread.

“Is this a human thing? I haven’t seen any mention of it on TV or the internet, but I know there are still many things about your culture that I don’t know,” Charlie asked, unable to help himself from smiling back at the adorable sight that was his half awake boyfriend.  
  
“Huh?” Matteusz blinked in confusion and started to push himself up, but then he caught sight of the plant life strewn across the duvet and groaned, flopping back down and throwing an arm across his eyes.

“Not again,” He muttered, staying like that for several moments before reluctantly peeking out from under his arm at Charlie again.

“Is not a human thing,” He replied, sounding a little exasperated.

“You’re not about to tell me you’re also an alien, are you?” Charlie joked, a little unsure as to what was going on but trying not to worry as Matteusz clearly wasn’t. Irritated, sure, but not worried.

“No,” Matteusz laughed, smiling once again, “Not alien. I would have said before.” He sat up, sweeping some of the leaves and flowers away with his hands, and his smile faded into a more serious expression so Charlie followed suit, retrieving a few leaves that had got under the covers as he leant against the headboard and angled himself towards his boyfriend, letting him explain in his own time.

“My great grandfather is the Leśnik,” Matteusz told him, a sentence that Charlie felt would have more impact if he had any sort of context or knowledge of what the Leśnik was. He could tell it was a Polish word, but it wasn’t one he’d heard before so he reached out to grab his phone from the bedside table so he could google it. Before he could even unlock his phone though, Matteusz began to explain further.

“The Leśnik is a being from Slavic folklore. He’s the spirit of the forest and a shapeshifter. Most people don’t believe he actually exists, but he does, and because I have his blood in my veins I have some of his magic. Not enough to change shape, but just enough that I sometimes wake up with some of the forest in my bed.”

“I see. Are all of the beings in your fairy tales real?” Charlie asked, trying to temper his intellectual curiosity with respect for something that was part of Matteusz’ personal history and affected him directly. Matteusz shook his head and snorted at that, but his expression made it clear he wasn’t laughing at Charlie’s ignorance.

“No, I don’t think so. Some of them might be, given everything we’ve seen but I’m pretty certain most are just bedtime stories to scare children into being good.”

“Right,” Charlie said, mentally filing the information away for later, before giving Matteusz a cheeky grin and saying jokingly, “Now I know why my plant started growing better once you moved in.”

“Yes, that’s exactly why. Nothing to do with the fact I actually water it,” Matteusz replied drily, rolling his eyes and shoving Charlie gently. That turned into a silly play fight, which in turn turned into a lazy make out session, ending only when Tanya texted to remind them they’d all planned to meet for lunch in town.

Just because the subject of Matteusz’ ancestry was pushed to the back of Charlie’s mind for the time being, didn’t mean that he forgot, and several months later when they were all being chased through the woods near the school by the alien of the week, he was the only one who wasn’t overly surprised when they were saved by the pursuer getting snared up in vines that definitely hadn’t been there when the five of them ran past. His boyfriend was even more amazing than Charlie had previously thought, and that was pretty difficult to achieve. Despite everything, he felt like the luckiest person on Earth.

**Author's Note:**

> I rewatched Class last weekend and was inspired to write a short fic by a ‘mythological creatures au’ prompt and Polish folklore. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> The wiki for the Leśnik if you’re interested.


End file.
